Three Branches Of Judaism

Judaism is among the widely practiced religions in the world whose roots go beyond the Christian and catholic decrees. Historically Judaism has always been known to form its basis on teachings from the Old Testament. Throughout time, different branches of Judaism have come up so that there can be incorporation of contemporary views as well the advancement of thoughts that have emerged. Today there are three major branches of Judaism and they are orthodox, conservative and reform.

Orthodox Judaism is movement that is relatively small and it upholds the old testaments divine inspiration and it gives great authority to the first five books. This branch still observes the traditional Jewish laws as they have been practiced for many centuries. It recognizes the Talmud as being authoritative when it comes to the interpretation of the Jewish law. There is also the ultra orthodox group within the main orthodox that strictly observes the Jewish law and they do not integrate into the modern society as they dress in a distinct way and even live their lives separately from the others (Zukeran,2010).

Conservative Judaism is an intermediate between reform and orthodox which was founded in the nineteenth century. Conservative Judaism seeks to practice the traditions and laws but they do so in a conscious manner. This is through their reinterpretation of the law and at the same time their adoption of practices according to the contemporary culture.

Reform Judaism is termed as the liberal wing of the three branches. It was founded in the eighteenth century by Abraham Geiger. Abraham got his influence from being enlightened and hence he viewed reason and science as authoritative. He rejected many things such as the belief in revelation, the Promised Land and the messianic hope. This branch seeks to bring modernization in what was initially termed as outdated ways of thinking. The focus of Reform Judaism is ethical teachings that are found within the Jewish law.These three branches came into being as a result of the he different beliefs that the Jews had when it came to Judaism.

There are differences between these three branches of Judaism. Orthodox Jews only accept the Halachah but do not believe that it can evolve like the conservatives do. The orthodox also believe that God gave the Torah to Moses and hence they should obey the rules as they are divine. They also believe that the 613 mitzvot found in the Torah bind all Jews in orthodox there is a barrier between women and men in services and also no women rabbis are found among the Orthodox. In their practice they observe Jewish law on issues like keeping kosher and Sabbath.

Reform Jews do not accept the way the Jewish laws are binding; they focus on moral autonomy of an individual to make a decision on which laws have a meaning to them. This is a liberal religion that is in support of social causes that are liberal. In general the reform service is made up of less Hebrew as compared to conservative or orthodox. It is the most lenient when it comes to their practices for example unlike orthodox keeping kosher is not a must. In this movement it is believed that children from a Jewish father and gentile mother are Jews if they are brought up as Jews and such a child is not supposed to convert. This is unlike orthodox and conservative those do not recognize these children as Jews (Zukeran, 2010).

Conservative Judaism accepts that the Jewish laws bind all the Jews and hence they are obliged to obey teachings of Judaism. The conservative Jews believe that the Jewish law is can evolve as people learn more on how they can interpret the Torah they have therefore changed the early interpretations o the Torah. An example of a practice that has been changed is the worshipping together of men and women, people can attend Sabbath ridding in cars and women are ordained as rabbis. In their practice they are reluctant when it comes to observing all religious laws. They only obey some part of them and leave out some other parts.

The existence of these branches means that there are a wide range of beliefs that can be found in Judaism. Due to enlightening in the world today, there has been an increase in the secularization among Jews. The many beliefs that exist within Judaism have become difficult to clearly define what makes a person a Jew.

References

Pat, F. M. (2010). Living Religions, Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River: PearsonPrentice Hall,

Zukeran, P. (2010).Judaism…. An Overview. Retrieved April 30, 2013 from http://www.inplainsite.org/html/judaism_overview.html